Vietnamese banks target more overseas markets

Vietnamese banks are stepping up plans to expand their markets globally instead of focusing only on the Indochinese region.
Vietnamese banks target more overseas markets ảnh 1Vietcombank officially plans to open a branch in Australia this year (Photo: Vietcombank)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese banks are stepping up plans to expandtheir markets globally instead of focusing only on the Indochinese region.

At a recent annual general shareholdersmeeting, Chairman of the Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade ofVietnam (Vietcombank) Nghiem Xuan Thanh said the bank planned to open a branchin Australia this year.

Vietcombank is also expected to open arepresentative office in the US in July 2019 after receiving approvalfrom the US Federal Reserve. With the expected launch, Vietcombank willbecome the first commercial bank in Vietnam to set up a representative officein the US.

Vietcombank launched its first overseas bank inLaos in October last year, besides representative offices in Singapore and HongKong.

The Sai Gon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank(SHB) has also submitted a plan to shareholders to set up a wholly-ownedbank or contribute capital to a credit institution in the IvoryCoast to enter the African market.

SHB’s leader said the number of Vietnamese firmsinvesting in the Ivory Coast had increased recently, mainly focusingon building processing factories to serve export and import activities. Thedemand for capital and international payment activities have also increasedquickly, and SHB wanted to seize the opportunity.

SHB will also open wholly-owned banks in Laosand Cambodia. The two markets are the top investment destinations chosen bymany other Vietnamese banks over the years thanks to significant overseasinvestment by Vietnamese firms in those markets, such as the CommercialJoint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade of Vietnam (VietinBank), CommercialJoint Stock Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Sai Gon ThuongTin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), and Military Commercial JointStock Bank (MB).

Statistics from the Foreign Investment Agencyunder the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that in the first fourmonths of this year, the finance and banking sector ranked second in overseasinvestment by Vietnamese firms with total registered capital of 36 million USD,accounting for 24.1 percent of the country’s total overseas investment.

Experts forecast free trade agreements (FTAs),especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership and the EU-Vietnam FTA, would contribute to increasing Vietnam’soverseas investment significantly.

Financial and banking expert Can Van Luc saidFTAs were opening significant opportunities for businesses investing abroad,facilitating banks to open branches in foreign countries to provide bankingservices.

Under the banking development strategy to 2025with a vision to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister, Vietnam aims to have atleast two-three banks in Asia’s top 100 banks by assets andthree-five banks listed on foreign stock exchanges.-VNS/VNA
VNA

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